Binging/Craving Solutions?

Hello all,

I have been trying to live Primally for a while now. But, it is hard because I am the only one in my family who wants to change my way of eating. My parents always buy junk food, ice cream, cereal etc. and it's every where in the house so I cannot avoid seeing the food. Because it's always in my sight, I always end up craving and wanting to them. I usually go one week of Primal then end up falling to the pressure of the food and binge. Starting January 2013, I decided to try eating fully Primal. I lasted for the month but after that, I binged on the junk for 1 whole week.

I read Mark's blog and the forums. No matter how much I read, I cannot bring myself to hate grains, artificial sugar, etc. They just remain as delicious foods in my mind. I tried eating replacements for those foods, such as almonds instead of chips, yoghurt instead of ice cream. But it is just not the same.

I was wondering, if anyone had any tips or ideas to help me?

One idea I was thinking of was to binge on a particular food I crave until I get sick and puke or something. Then I would return to the Primal life until I get another craving for something and repeat. Good or bad idea? I am hoping this would kind of help me develop an aversion toward the food.

You know, I had the exact same problem. Was super strict for the first month, then went on a binging frenzy. This kept happening (restricting, binging) for several months. I had an ED prior to the dietary change, but it got a lot worse for quite a few months.

The ethos of Primal - real food, healthy living, is fantastic, but first you need to question why you are doing this diet. Is it for weight loss? Or is it to be healthy? I think the people who do it for weight loss but who come saddled with a lot of food phobias find their binging gets out of control.

It was only when I realised I was projecting a lot of fears and neurosis onto food (and my body), and started to deal with the underlying emotions that I stopped binging. Although not everyone binges for emotional reasons. Some people are just physically hooked to the food. My instinct is that if you went a month without eating it, and then went back on it, that's not the case for you.

Last edited by YogaBare; 02-13-2013 at 04:38 PM.

"I think the basic anti-aging diet is also the best diet for prevention and treatment of diabetes, scleroderma, and the various "connective tissue diseases." This would emphasize high protein, low unsaturated fats, low iron, and high antioxidant consumption, with a moderate or low starch consumption.

In practice, this means that a major part of the diet should be milk, cheese, eggs, shellfish, fruits and coconut oil, with vitamin E and salt as the safest supplements."

Sounds like you're on the verge of developing (or already have developed) seriously disordered eating. You are not alone - much of the world, especially us in America, know this problem well.

Step 1: Do not binge until you make yourself puke. This is very self destructive, please do not considering puking as any sort of viable strategy.

Step 2: Moderation. Eat primal as you can when you can. Have ice cream on Friday with your friends if you want to. Don't sweat it too much. Overly restricting yourself leads to binging for those of us inclined towards binging already.

Step 3: Share your struggle with your parents. Let them know what you want to eat and why. Let them know you are having trouble with binging. If your parents are not approachable, try a counselor at school or similar.

I am in the same situation. My mother is just awful. Brings in all kinds of crap. The worst part is, she's so dissabilitated she doesn't go and get these things herself. I have to bring them to her. I hope one of these days I can find great success with primal and find the strength within me to finally tell her "no."

I had a very hard time tonight. I was already dealing with cravings when I came home. She insisted I go get her a chicken strips and cheese balls basket from the local ice cream joint.

It's HARD. I would do as qqemokitty suggested and share with your family what you're attempting to do. My mom doesn't care.

Some how I have been able to keep iron will, but I've only been at this for two full weeks. I would definitely reaccess why you're doing this. Come to a conclusion that there is nothing more important than your health and you fully believe that PB is the way that is going to help you get there. You have to get your mind in the right spot before your body will follow along.

Hmm... I guess you could say I am too self-conscious. I always seem to be concerned about how others might view me; probably because I am shy and not very good at being social or talking. So yeah, I am self-conscious and I was also tired of dragging around the extra weight.

My family does know about how I want to eat better, but they don't really care. My siblings are the main reason why they buy junk. My brother is already very unhealthy and they tell him to do something about it but he refuses. I tried convincing him to try Primal, but he refused. Even though my parents know this, they keep buying junk anyways. My family thinks that what I am doing is stupid.

Oh yeah, I never purposefully forced myself to puke before. I just read up about conditioned taste-aversion, so it got me tinkering with the idea that maybe if I were to make myself get sick from the unhealthy foods, it would make me not want to eat them anymore.

I have been trying to live Primally for a while now. But, it is hard because I am the only one in my family who wants to change my way of eating. My parents always buy junk food, ice cream, cereal etc. and it's every where in the house so I cannot avoid seeing the food. Because it's always in my sight, I always end up craving and wanting to them. I usually go one week of Primal then end up falling to the pressure of the food and binge. Starting January 2013, I decided to try eating fully Primal. I lasted for the month but after that, I binged on the junk for 1 whole week.

I read Mark's blog and the forums. No matter how much I read, I cannot bring myself to hate grains, artificial sugar, etc. They just remain as delicious foods in my mind. I tried eating replacements for those foods, such as almonds instead of chips, yoghurt instead of ice cream. But it is just not the same.

I was wondering, if anyone had any tips or ideas to help me?

One idea I was thinking of was to binge on a particular food I crave until I get sick and puke or something. Then I would return to the Primal life until I get another craving for something and repeat. Good or bad idea? I am hoping this would kind of help me develop an aversion toward the food.

Thanks in advance!

Funny how thats exactly what im doing now! Seriously though, your story is a carbon copy of mine. I was super strict and never had sweet cravings. At the turn of this year i wouldnt even consider myself primal. Im eating evrything in sight and in an uncontrollable manner, unfortunately. My plan? Get it all out of my system and start a new in couple days time, im eating all the things ive missed and just trying to get it out of my head, and make my body realise what real food is. In the meantime, im going to vary up my primal diet, look up new receipes, buy new ingredients, make a workout plan and set myself some goals. Basically i aim to get back on track and not lose focus again.

Imalso enjoy eating with the family again, butvat the same time thiis way of eating is just too wrong, and i will have to go my way again. Its vyery tough being the only one as you say. If it was my house, it would be much easier to abstain, and even better if i had a primal like partner. So i think thats the solution ultimately, to move out and find like minded partner and start a new life so to speak.

I think what the poster above said was good advice, enjoy eating out with friends once a week is something i will consider aswell. Cant be too restrictive on yourself i guess.

I'm not going to sugar coat it for you. This is going to be a hard road for you until you're out of the house and making your own decisions. Since your parents think it's stupid, you're going to have to deal with the "here eat this" every day. But, if you're strong enough you can do it.

I live with my mother because she couldn't take care of herself or the house anymore. It's hard and morally challenging to me to continue bringing all the crap in that she cannot live without. This morning I had a glimmer of hope when I saw her pull out berries for breakfast. It was immediately squashed when she dumped sugar all over them. It's hard. Keep with it. Little at a time. Every day isn't going to be perfect. Don't beat yourself up